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Monday meanderings: With the Chicago Cubs beating the visiting Milwaukee Brewers 4-2 Sunday, the hosts captured their second series triumph of the season by winning two of three weekend games. The other series victory came against the St. Louis Cardinals. So the Cubs have handled the top two teams in their division. Everyone else? Not so much.
Jeana Turner is in some video below. For those who care (and even for those who don’t).
* Left-hander Travis Wood was the winning pitcher against Milwaukee but 0-for-3 batting. Third baseman Mike Olt was 1-for-4 with a home run, his team-leading ninth. Both players are hitting .176 and so is second baseman Darwin Barney. Of the three, Wood has the best on-base percentage (.263). Wondering whether Olt and Barney can pitch perhaps.
* Speaking of the Cubs contest at Wrigley Field, it featured throwback uniforms to 1937. To have a more authentic feel for the outfits, shouldn’t the rosters feature only white ballplayers? And shouldn’t players such as Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun have to limit any performance-enhancing agents to coffee? And since he is an admitted PED user, shouldn’t his coffee have to be decaf?
* Not being a marketing genius (or any type of genius or any type of marketing person), your humble correspondent does not quite understand why the Cubs handed out a Babe Ruth “Called Shot” bobblehead at Friday’s game rather than wait till the New York Yankees came to town (which they do Tuesday).
* With such praiseworthy words coming from White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf regarding Tony LaRussa becoming president of baseball operations for the Arizona Diamondback, it makes one — maybe even more than one — wonder why none of his previous big-league employers (White Sox, Oakland A’s, Cardinals) didn’t find a place for their former manager in their organization.
* Speaking of the Sox, they place Jose Abreu – the American League leaders in home runs and runs batted in — on the 15-day disabled list with posterior tibia tendinitis in the ankle. It may take the medical department around here 15 days to figure out what that injury actually is — other than bad news for the Sox.
* Still speaking of the Sox, their 8-2 loss at Houston featured left-hander John Danks giving up eight runs — seven earned — on 10 hits in 4 2/3 innings. He yielded three home runs and has allowed eight homers this season, good (or bad) for a tie for seventh among American League pitchers. In trade terms, he is fast becoming an untouchable — and not in a good way.
* And still speaking even more of the Sox, Adam Dunn struck out four times in four at-bats. Even so, he ranks sixth in the AL in on-base percentage (.388). Looking for glimmers of hope wherever they can be found.
* Ex-Sox of the day: Outfielder Alex Rios hit a two-run triple and scored a run as the Texas Rangers beat the visiting Toronto Blue Jays 6-2. He has four triples to tie for the league lead.
* The word is Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love wants to be traded and one of the teams he would consider is the Chicago Bulls. A California native, Love also is said to like the Golden State Warriors. So instead of focusing on mock drafts, diehard Bulls fans can come up with some mock trades, none of which would involve any player of value going to Minnesota, of course.
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